10 April 2009

Anti-Gay Bullying Drives 11 YO Massachusetts Student to Suicide

"Sirdeaner L. Walker found her son, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hanging by an extension cord on the second floor of her Springfield home on Monday night. Walker said Carl, a sixth-grade student at the New Leadership Charter School, had been taunted and threatened by classmates for weeks before he killed himself. She said that she contacted the school repeatedly over the last six months to ask teachers to intervene after learning her son had been targeted by students. Walker said her son’s classmates called him gay on a daily basis, made fun of his clothes and threatened to harm him, according to the Springfield Republican."

Comments

I'm speechless. This boy wasn't even necessarily going to end up gay, he was just a little kid. He was just perceived as gay, but that was by 11 and 12 year olds, what do they know. They teased him for dressing differently.

That's just awful, I don't care if that kid was gay or str8 he was a beautiful child and looks like a sweet heart. I'm so sorry for his families loss and I'm so sorry for what he must have felt like to have to turn to suicide to escape :(

What is really amazing is that thi9s took place in Springfield MASSACHUSETTS ... a city and state that you would think would be more progressive. But unfortunately it seems the school was a charter school established by the Urban League and most likely majority black.

You know, normally I look forward to some beefcake on an early Friday morning but this is infinitely much more fulfilling. The fact that it happened in Massachusetts should not be laughed at. Supposedly that is the most enlightened state in our imperfect union.

I'm beyond speechless. I won't even say this could have been me. This was ME when I was in my teens and tweens. I even tried to hurt myself several times. I guess God was smiling on me. Please smile on this boy and this mother, they need your grace.

To the previous commenter "lew", I was that boy as well (at that exact grade/age in brooklyn, which freaks me out) but know that we both made it out.

To "Talarico", I understand where you sentiment comes from but I don't think we should assume anything about the race of the majority of the students at the charter school, based on what was stated in this posting.

It's a cliche statement, but when I see this boy i really see anyone of us . . . 's crazy . . . madworld.

The biggest offenders are the religious right, the so called Christians and the fundamentalists who are intolerant and raise their children to be intolerant. Who would condone beating up a child and teasing him day after day because he is new or different? This is outrageous.

You can be sure the children who drive him to this, and their parents, are getting a good night's sleep.

What an Unbearable Tragedy! This boy was absolutely beautiful and it just breaks my heart that his life has been cut so short. Shame on the school officials for not acting accordingly. It should NEVER take 6 months of calling! I can't imagine the pain, anger and grief his Mom is feeling. The truly sad thing is that this was COMPLETELY preventable, if only the officials had taken action. People send their children to school and entrust the officials to protect and educate them. This school completely failed this little boy and his family. I just hope he is at peace and with the Lord.

Very sad .. It's definitely a story that many can relate too .. Children only mirror what they see and hear at home because they certainly don't come out of the womb with opinions .. My prayers are certainly about this young man and his family .. I just wonder who will march in protest about this issue and in his honor...

I wanted to scream when I read this story. I can tell you from my own childhood experiences, that I know EXACTLY why nothing was done by Carl's school, to put a stop to the incessant bullying and ridicule of this child. When I was growing up, the other kids in my school thought it was perfectly OK to rip the hearing aids from my ears and throw them across the room. Then, as I scrambled on my knees to pick them off the floor, the other kids would kick them away from me. Of course the teachers turned a blind eye to this, until I decided to fight back.

Then, I became the "disruptive element", and my parents were told I needed "psychological counseling". Oh, God, it only got worse in junior high when I discovered my sexuality, and I wasn't the most masculine kid in the school. That's when the beatings began in earnest (this was the '70s). So I understand perfectly why this poor, tormented child killed himself. It is clear to me that the school he attended was not interested in addressing a deep-seated, widespread problem with their "normal, well-adjusted" students, who, in effect, drove this defenseless child to his death. I only pray that in death this child finds a measure of peace that was so cruelly denied him in life.

Unfortunately, it seems that little has changed since I was a kid getting bullied 30 years ago. I would have thought with all the noise society makes about "protecting the children", we would have made more progress in protecting children...from each other!